Kawaii Fashion Overload at J-Pop Summit Festival 2014

Continuing last year’s theme of Harajuku Kawaii, J-Pop Summit Festival 2014 featured KAWAii!! fashion events, which included fashion shows and contest, live performances, autograph and photo sessions, as well as a pop-up shop in NEW PEOPLE building. The KAWAii!! events were presented by Moshi Moshi Nippon, an initatiative by Asobisystem (an entertainment company well-known for managing Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) to promote Japan pop culture on a global stage.

On the first day of J-Pop Summit Festival 2014 (Saturday, July 19, 2014), the Pagoda Peace Plaza Stage was fully dedicated to showcase many KAWAii!! fashion events at 1-2pm. There’s so many cute fashion happening in that one hour, starting from a presentation from a Japanese accessory brand ma chére Cosette?, a great live vocal performance by KERA fashion magazine model and DISACODE front woman Akira, an Aymmy in the batty girls fashion show featuring Ayumi Seto (the brand’s designer, model), Una (singer, model), and Misa Kimura (model), and a kawaii fashion contest. Let’s get to it!

A Japanese jewelry brand famous for its French-retro accessories and good, ma chére Cosette? had a special accessories presentation that day. After a quick selfie of the brand’s ambassadors Oniko and Chyary with a J-Pop staff, we’re treated to a selection of accessories showcased by cute girls in cute outfits! Oh la la, those bags were so cute!

Akira

Oh my gosh, Akira is just so awesome; she delivered a cool, rousing live vocal performance. Not only she looked the part (ladies and gentlemen, now THAT is how you do casual – yes, casual – androgynous gothic look), but also she sounded great and clearly had a great fun performing on-stage. I’m sure she stole some hearts of unsuspecting girls out there with those handsome look of hers. I love her new song “Aoki Tsuki Michite” and it’s no wonder the song is the ending theme song of TV animation series “Black Butler – Book of Circus”. Dare I say Akira is almost as cool as Sebastian, the demon butler himself?

You can see from the pictures below that Chris and I enjoyed taking pictures of Akira. She’s so much fun to take pictures of and even deliberately paused frequently to pose to the camera. Even when she’s pulling out her cheat sheet in order to address the crowd in English, she’s so irresistible. We LOVE her!

The Aymmy in the batty girls Spring/Summer 2014 fashion show followed Akira’s performance, featuring the local models and topped with appearances from Misa Kimura, Una, and lastly Ayumi Seto, the designer and model herself. The casual Americana cool kids were out to play, people!

Kawaii fashion contest

After the fashion show, Ayumi, Misa, and Una stayed to judge the Kawaii fashion contest with a representative from the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco. In this segment, the contestants got to showcase their own interpretation of “kawaii fashion”. It’s quite refreshing to see a wide range of individual looks with detailed, personalized touches.

In the end, two winners were chosen to grab $300 gift card to spend at the KAWAii!! pop-up show and $200 worth of merchandise from Aymmy in the batty girls. Both winners seem to want the same Aymmy in the batty girls outfit though (the sailor girl look), so good luck girls!
And what’s better to cap off the KAWAii!! event with a little photo opportunity? My gosh, I almost cannot handle the kawaii overload that’s happening on stage. And OMG, Ayumi, Misa, and Una were so adorable!